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[Document Y.] 



BY THE SENATE, 

March 19th, 1867. 
Read and ordered to be printed. 



REPORT 



OF THE 



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COMM ITTEE 



ON 



LABOR m IMMIGRATIOI. 



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ANNAPOLIS:' 

HENRY A. LUCAS, Printer. 
1867. 



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REPORT 



The Committee upon Labor and Immigration beg leave to 
submit the following Eeport: 

The Committee have given to the subject the anxious 
and thoughtful consideration which its paramount impor- 
tance demands. 

Since the sudden abrogation of our hereditary and patri- 
archal system of involuntary servitude, greatly unsettling 
and demoralizing, as might have been expected, that hitherto 
useful and contented class of labor, no subject has arisen of 
more immediate and pressing importance to the agricultural 
and planting interest of tlie State. 

The black man, naturally kind, amiable and submissive, 
is admirably fitted for the servile condition which for two 
centuries he has so advantageously occupied in this country, 
and under which he has been lifted from a state of barbarism 
and heathenism to one of civilization and Christianity. Whe- 
ther in his new condition of freeman, he shall be able in the 
great race of life to cope successfully with the more active and 
enterprising white man, is a problem which time alone can 
solve. If we compare his condition in the free States, where 
for generations no impediment has existed to his moral and 
intellectual improvement, with rare exceptions, we must con- 
clude that a retrograde, instead of an advanced condition, is 
his unhappy fate. Truthfully and graphically as he was 
described by his liberator. President Lincoln, "a houseless, 
homeless and landless race," instead of bewildering and in- 
toxicating his mind with ideas of learning and literature, 
and social and political equality, he had been taught that 
work — honest, faithful work — was the first ureat lesson of 
life; and that by work, and work alone, could he gain an 
honest liveliliood, and lift himself from want and degradation 
to independence and respectability. Our jails and peniten- 
tiary would not now be filled, as they are, to repletion with 
colored criminals, and this Legislature engaged in the difficult 
task of seeking foreign labor as a substitute to cultivate our 
neglected and unproductive fields, had he not been so sud- 
denly snatched from tiiose to whom he looked for counsel and 
protection, and thrown, all unprepared, upon his own unaided 
efforts. 



As Marylfi aders, so long and so intimately associated with 
this class of our community, wc cannot but feel a deep soli- 
citude in their future welfare. Their present condition has 
been forced upon them without any agency of their own. 
They are not responsible for it. From former services and 
dependence they demand our sympathy and assistance, and 
all impediments, if any exist, to such employments and avo- 
cations as they are fitted for, should be removed. But to 
admit the negro to social and political equality, is contrary 
to long established habit — revolting to taste and judgment, 
and violative of the laws of Grod, who, in His own wise prov- 
idence, has placed the two races as far asunder as light is 
from darkness. The welfare of each demands that they shall 
move in their appropriate spheres. When freed from it, com- 
motion, agitation and conflict will inevitably follow, and a 
war of races, ending only in the extermination of the weaker, 
will be the end of the experiment. 

Labor then being the key to production, and absolutely ne- 
cessary to the cultivation of the soil and its full develope- 
mentj it becomes interesting to investigate the nature of 
labor — what it accomplishi . ! what are its wants and duties! 
and how ought it to be dea^t with ? 



*o' 



WHAT IS LABOR? 

According to Webster, labor is defined to be '^'physical toil, 
bodily exertion, muscular strength, painful efibrt, directed to 
some useful end." In agricultural pursuits, it encounters 
fatigue, exposure to all weather — heat and cold, wet and dry, 
frost and snow. It has one never ending round of duty, from 
sun to sun, from week to week, and from month to month. 
There is no period of the year at which farm labor may not be 
usefully and profitably employed. Then, what does labor 
accomplish? 

Labor fells the forests; drains the swamps; furrows and 
plows the fields ; sows, reaps and harvests the crops ; threshes, 
clears and prepares them for market; makes roads, digs 
canals, builds houses, towns^ villages and cities. From the 
sowing of the seed to the harvesting of the crop — from the 
humblest cottage to the palace and full-grown city, this in- 
dispensable agent, labor, is always present — always toiling — 
always necessary. Its luants, then, obviously become the 
next subject of inquiry. 

The wants of labor, primarily, are food, clothing and shelter. 
Butsince the system of involuntary labor las been abolished. 
and we now buy labor like iiny other commodity in the mar- 
ket, its demands must not be neglected. In this age of s^-arcity 
and competition, not only tiic physical, but also the moral 
and intellectual wants of labor must be supplied. The wages 
of-labor like every other commodity are regulated by the laws 



ot supply and demand. In this country it is not likely to 
sink so low as merely to supply the natural wants of man- 
such only as food, clothing and shelter. It has higher aspi- 
rations, and the good of society and the wellare of the State 
demand that these aspirations should be encouraged and pro- 
vided for. Hence, schools and churches become a necessity 
if we would attract and permanently domicile a desirable 
class of voluntary farm labor. In addition to this, the inno- 
cent pastimes and amusemeyts of Ibreign nationalities should 
also be provided. Labor must have its relaxations and diver- 
sions, or like the bow which is always strung, it soon loses 
its life and elasticity. If diversions of an innocent character 
are not provided, those of vice and immorality will be sought 
and indulged in. 

The physical nature of labor being understood and appre- 
ciated, its great achievements acknowledged and its wants — 
physical, moral and intellectual — provided for, it follows as 
a moral, legal and religious obligation on its part that labor 
should return a faithful, willing and active service to its em- 
ployer. Not only should an honest day's work be performed 
for an honest day's wages, but the interest of the employer 
should be the interest of the employed. This on the farm 
can be shown in a variety of ways, namely : By the care of 
tools and implements — attention to stock, to fencing, and a 
general oversight and readiness to assist in unforseen acci- 
dents, or to put in place and order whatever may accidentally 
be out of order. This interest and attention on the part of 
labor never fails to meet an acknowledgment and due 
appreciation. 

On the other hand, it is the duty of the employer to meet 
with punctuality and exactness his promises and engagements 
to his hired labor. "The laborer is worthy of his price," is 
an injunction of holy writ, and a curse is pronounced upon 
him who "keepeth back the wages of the hireling." There- 
fore the highest moral obligation as well as self interest, com- 
mon honesty and justice require a scrupulous exactness in the 
discharge of this part of the contract. 

The wants of labor require that the payment of wages., 
shoiild be divided and made at frequently recurring periods," 
either weekly or monthly as the case may be. For the em- 
ployer it is generally easier and better to pay his hired labor 
in monthly instalments, than in one annual payment ; and it 
enables the laborer to buy for cash, and to keep out of the 
clutches of merciless venders of the necessaries of life, for 
which he would have to go in debt, did he only receire his 
wages at the end of the year's services. 

Thus far your Committee has only considered manual labor, 
because it is fundamental and necessn-y to give direction to 
all other kinds of labor. Aoiinal labor" has been used, and 
is destined by the skill and inventive genius of our people 

^1 u r rr ^ 



6 

still more to be used, and to modify and economise farm la- 
bor. The elements of wind and water can also, in many sit- 
uations, be turned to good account ; and steam is being econ- 
omically applied to too many uses, to doubt that at no distant 
day, it will he made tributary to the toil and labor of the 
husljandmau. 

Your Committee having noticed the destruction of invol- 
untary labor by sudden emancipation, its consequent demor- 
alization and unreliability, and as pertinent, and necessary to 
a due and proper consideration of the subject of organizing 
r. system of voluntary labor to replace the involuntary sys- 
tem bequethed to' us by our forefathers ; having considered 
the nature of labor, i*ts importance, its wants and duties, and 
also tne duty and interest of employers in dealing with em- 
ployees, it now becomes necessary to inquire from whence a 
supply of labor can be obtained. 

If we for a moment consider the vastness of our common \ 
country — the number of States and great variety of employ- 
ments seeking and competing for labor — your Committee 
must confess that this is a difficult and embarrassing ques- 
tion. And yet; if we remember the character, energy and 
enterprise of oUr people, the peculiarly advantageous position 
of our State — near the sea-board— ^with our great commercial 
emporium at the head of one of the noblest bays on the 
globe, and our close proximity to the Capitol of this great 
nation, we at once see that we have the strongest and most 
encouraging motives for effort, and a strong probability of 
s access within our reach. 

Probably the most fortunate circumstance for Maryland at 
this time is the establishment of lines of steamers directly 
from Baltimore to and from Liverpool, England, and Bre- 
men in Holland. These steamers are calculated and expected 
to bring into the port of Baltimore annually from 10 to 
15,000 foreign emigrants. A large per-centage of these emi- 
grants are farm laborers. They have heard of our free gov- 
ernment — where freedom of religion, freedom of occupation, 
and the pursuits and objects of life are before them and open 
to.all. They have also heard of our vast domain, and bound- 
less Western praries — where farms are cheap, and labor 
scarce and high — and the attractive West is presented to 
them before leaving their fatherland by agents from Western 
Stfies, and large railroad corporations, as the laud of 
promise, and the goal of all their hopes and expectations, 
so that when landed here no persuasion or inducement can 
divert them from their original destination, and they hurry 
off by our railroads for the great West, as fast as steam- and 
rail ca,n carry them. To detain them here and induce them 
to settle in Maryland we must pursue the same course which 
has been so successful in attracting them to the West. The 
LeG;islature of 1866 has wisely created the office of Commis- 

PD 1.0.4 



sioner of* Immigration, and imposed upon that officer onerous 
and important duties. The duties are douhtless well per- 
formed, but the appropriation and compensation appears to 
be altogether inadequate to the adoption of a full and com- 
prehensive plan for the reception and accommodation of so 
large a body of immigrants as is expected to arrive annually 
in the port of Baltimore ; and no provision whatever is made 
for sending an agent to Europe, which the Committee believe 
to be absolutely necessary to the successful working of the 
Commission at home. First impressions and predilections 
are strong and difficult to eradicate — and if the agent is suc- 
cessful in creating an impression upon immigrants before cm 
barking, favorable toMaryland, the first settlerji v;ill^ by cor- 
respondence and otherwise, draw after them a stream qf im- 
migration to fill up our sparce rural population—and suffi- 
cient to occupy and improve every county and neighborhood 
in the State. The Committee would therefore strongly re- 
commend the appointment of an agent in Europe under the 
direction of and to co-operate with the Commission at home. 
There is one other point, although not directly connected 
with the question of labor and imigration, yet ko important 
in its effect upon that subject, and the general wealth and 
prosperity of the State, that your Committee beg leave to 
present a few observations upon it. Your Committee allude 
to the subject of roads, turnpikes, canals, railroads, &c, 
These afford the means of transporting the productions of 
labor to market, and add to, or diminish the cost of labor, 
according to the cheapness or dearness it costs to bring it 
from the place of production to the place of sale. Whatever 
cheapens the cost of transportation, cheapens the cost of pro- 
duction, and consequently adds to the value of labor ; hence 
the great importance of openings constructing and making 
as perfect and useful as possible the roads and highways of 
the State. These of every description which capital can be 
found to build, it is obviously the interest ap.d duty of the 
State to foster and encourage by all necessary legislation. Ii 
is difficult to find an individual or community that a good 
road or highway has ever injured. On the contrary, their 
benefits and advantages can only be counted by millions. 
Not only millions of dollars have been gained by the intro- 
duction of roads, turnpikes, railways, &c., but what is more 
valuable, the great saving of time they gain for the commu- 
nity. Who can estimate the days, weeks and months gained 
in the aggregate by the hundreds and thousands of people 
that are constantly passing over our railroads ? Take, lOr 
example, the Washington Branch Railroad, and compare it 
with the slow stage coach of former days — then it to.-k ten 
hours to transport ten passengers per coach between the two 
cities ; now forty passengers per single car of a train of six 
or eight are carried in two hours over the same distance. 



8 

* 

equal to a loss of time consumed by stage travel per 10 persons 
of 100 hours — against 40 by railroad of 80 hours — or in 
other words, a gain of eight hours per day for each passenger 
who passes over the road — or in the aggregate, of the enor- 
mous gain of 2,560,000 hours per annum by the use of steam 
over horse power upon one short road of only forty miles in 
length— 'which is equivalent at 10 hours per working day, 
to 25,600 days labor. 

Your committee have, in accordance with the views -pre- 
sented herein^ reported a bill looking to the sending abroad 
a commissioner whose efforts shall be directed towards influen- 
cing immigration to Baltimore by steamers and sailing ves- 
sels. This bill also endeavors to provide a means to detain 
and keep permanently within the limits of the State the flow 
of immigration which the establishment of the lines of steam- 
ers heretofore spoken of in this report will do so much to at- 
tract^ but which the cupidity and interest of the great rail- 
road company establishing those lines of steamers prompts 
to transport out of the State over their long line of railroad, 
and whose ''runners" scarcely allow the immigrant to set foot 
on our soil for one moment, or exercise any volition in select- 
ing his future residence, but hurry him off to the depot to be 
moved with railway velocity outside of our own State to the 
great West, whose prosperity and population he has done so 
much to increase. If the bill reported does not prevent this, 
other legislation must be inaugurated to stop it. 

Your committee has but one other suggestion to make. 

Immigration will not go where facilities for ready access to 
market are denied. Fortunately, our State is being check- 
ered all over its beautiful surface with railroads, either pro- 
jected or in project of construction. Let the "Maryland sys- 
tem," of which we hear so much, be turned to the improve- 
ment of our whole State, lather than to the aggrandizement 
of an already overgrown and overweening corporation. Let / 
us encourage the construction of all works of internal im- 
provement in the interest of Maryland, rather than confine 
our legislation to the benefit of one road for which the State 
has already done so much. 

Let thishQ the "Maryland system" in future, and blessed 
as we are with soil, climate, water facilities, mineral wealth, 
water power, geographical locaticn, public schools and places 
of worship, and a resident population, a nobler than which 
does not exist in any land, and our future prosperity and pre- 
eminence will be as great as the most ardent lover of our 

State could wish. 

ODEN BOWIE, Chairman 
Committee on Labor and Immigration. 



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LIBRARY OINOING ' 

ST. AUGUSTINE 



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